10 Ways To Come Up With A Million Dollar Business Idea

In: Business Ideas By: Brian Armstrong

19 Jul 2007

Question from a reader:

Brian,

I am loving the book for its inspiration as I have been contemplating quiting my job. I have more than sufficient $ to take some time off, so last Friday I went ahead and put in my two weeks. It’s a scary feeling to do this especially without a side business already up and running, but I can afford it. Do you know of a good resource to use to come up with business ideas?

Best,
A.V.

A.V.,

Great question, and one that is on many people’s minds. Here are some ideas in no particular order:

Look at what frustrates you. Whats annoying. Whats hard to use. Imagine you go to a restaurant to meet a friend. But you get lost on the way, the waitress forgets your order, and the table you are sitting at wobbles. Three annoyances, and three businesses exist to solve those problems. They are all around you!
Lots of things probably frustrate you, but pay attention to what frustrates other people. Where you can solve someones pain, there is great money to be made. Keep a journal and write down any time you see someone get upset for a week.
Type into Google “entrepreneurs [your city name]” and join at least one club in your city. Most large cities have some sort of entrepreneurship organization that meets regularly (could also be indirectly related such as networking, marketing, etc). Some cost a little money, some are free. Whatever, join them. Getting around like-minded people is priceless, and will get your brain thinking in totally new ways. If you can’t find any club, join Toastmasters. In any given week, I attend at least three such clubs.
Read Business 2.0. It’s actually dangerous for me to read it because by the time I’m done, I’m ready to drop everything I’m doing and launch my next great project. It’s way better than Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, Money, and Business Week combined.
Go talk to the retired executives at SCORE (it’s free) and stay in touch with them by email.

Find someone who owns their own business and is rich. Call them on the phone and ask for 10 minutes of their time. If you don’t get a call back, just show up at their office (really!). Be honest and tell them you have no idea what you’re doing, but you want to start a business. You’d be surprised how willing people are to help, especially older folks. Just ask them how they got started, and they’ll talk for hours. If their advice is helpful, do what they say, and call them again a week later to go over it. Make it a regular thing, and you’ve got a mentor.
Ask everyone you meet “So have you ever thought about starting a business?”. Most people have ideas even if they’ll never do it.
Do the written exercises in Chapter 5 of Breaking Free.
Get involved in the business school at your local university. They often have events such as business plan competitions, guest speakers, and networking functions. Most events at business schools have great receptions afterwards with free alcohol. If you give an MBA candidate a couple beers, he or she will tell you their business ideas for the rest of the night.
Sit with a blank sheet of paper in total silence for an hour, with “what is my purpose?” at the top and see what happens.

I’ve done all of these at some point, and still do many of them. Hope it helps!

What others did I forget to mention? Type a comment below. Please Digg this too!

14 Responses

Terra Andersen

July 19th, 2007 at 12:23 pm

Great advice! You are one of the boldest yet!.. and I love it! Thinking outside of the box is what it’s really all about!

Robert Rees

July 19th, 2007 at 5:52 pm

I read a book years ago titled: Homemade Money: Starting Smart by Barbara Brabec

She goes into detail on how to use your talents and hobbies to create a business as well as how to test it out with only $100.

Sorry Brian, not trying to sell someone else’s books, but it goes along with your advice to this question.

Brian Armstrong

July 19th, 2007 at 6:25 pm

Hey Robert, thanks for the tip, nothing wrong with sharing other resources!

Troy

July 28th, 2007 at 1:05 am

Thanks Brian,

This is a great post. One that I have book marked to come back to and use the links you have to it to do the suggested reading!

Robert, I will look into the book you are referring to as well!

Brian Armstrong

July 29th, 2007 at 6:56 pm

Sounds good Troy…this is one of those posts that you could do one item per week for a few months and make a huge difference in your life.
Brian

Mark

September 1st, 2007 at 3:15 pm

I like the post but have to disagree about Business 2.0 mag. Most of the articles are pure fluff and I have discovered numerous factual errors when researching some of the people/companies further.

Moreover, as a budding entrepreneur, one of the biggest unanswered questions is how these people get financing, how they initially found distribution for their product, how they initially marketed their product or service.

Sure, it’s interesting to read about a company that has been underway for a few years and now the founders are making the big $$$. But so, so many of these articles in all of these magazines completely ignore the questions that plague most people like me starting up their businesses.

Brian Armstrong

September 2nd, 2007 at 4:29 pm

Hey Mark I feel yah on that one. I’m a big fan of starting businesses with little or no startup cost, mainly for that reason that financing is tough and time consuming as you pointed out.

moana

March 13th, 2008 at 4:02 am

I just came through this website to see whats new and happen to come across your page, and I find my self in this situation where I too have lots of ideas and don’t even know how to start,where to turn, and how to promote or market a biz with no start up funds available. So my question is, how can a broke person who can’t get hired from all these damn interviews that I have been experiencing, start a business with nothing? I bet you’ve got an answer for this one..I hope..BRIAN..Please Help..

Brian Armstrong

March 16th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

Hi Moana,

I would suggest getting a job in your case. Starting a business is difficult and takes lots of failure to learn enough to have some success. I would get a job so at least you have enough income to live on while you try starting some business on the side.

The job doesn’t have to be great, as long as it buys you enough time. You don’t want to be in a situation where your business MUST generate some income this month or you will be living on the street. That is dangerous. Anyway, I applaud your great desire, keep it up you will get there! Things worth doing are rarely easy, keep trying.
Brian

patrick

August 24th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

hi Brian,

I’ve bn reading through all ur resources and i am so inspired by the awesomes advices and ideas u have put on here.Now, i feel so confident to start my own business.Even though it is so difficult for a young individual to grow here in my region(Africa)minding all the disabilities and ill factors that work against biz growth in the system over here.

Thank you Sir.

Brian Armstrong

August 25th, 2008 at 1:30 am

Best of luck, don’t give up Patrick! And thanks for stopping by,
Brian

Gus Berk

June 21st, 2009 at 3:37 am

Hello All great site and I am going to buy this book this week. Its funny how I stand here on the other side of the table. I am in a situation where money isnt really an issue anymore. Not that Im a billionaire yet or elsee i wouldent be here. But startup funds are in place for a decent size operation…..I feel like i have writers block when thinking of what business to start. i cant think of ANYTHING!! Where does a guy like me who has his own money plus access to many more resources of cash get ideas for a hot business. Hmm Maybee i should start a place where people can submit thier ideas and business plans and whoever wins gets a partnership with me…Feel free to share any ideas with me people. Best of Luck to all.

Brian Armstrong

June 25th, 2009 at 2:38 am

Hi Gus, if you have lots of cash I’d say make some real estate investments or become an investor in other businesses (own a stake). Have you read Robert Kiyosaki’s book cash flow quadrant? He talks about moving to becoming an investor. People who have already become successful tend to do this rather than start their own, but if a killer idea does come to you nothing to stop you there either. Thanks for stopping by!

steve

February 3rd, 2010 at 4:57 am

Great site and articles. I find your website while I was searching how people come up business ideas on google. NICE! Right now I have few ideas that I’m very excited about it, but there’s no business model and requires funding. What should I do?

Breaking Free

10 Ways To Come Up With A Million Dollar Business Idea

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